Page 77 - RLI March 2019

SPECIAL FEATURE: RETAIL & BRAND EXPERIENCE

DREAm A LITTLE

BIggER, DARLINg...

You don’t have to look hard to see the green shoots of For example, last year Sunshine worked with Balmain, MPC
the virtual revolution already starting to surface: remarkable and Oculus to create ‘My City of Lights’, a VR installation for the
London-based digital retail agency Holition have created a opening of Balmain’s new stores. Rather than merely improve
blended reality mirror for Bourjois Paris that allows shoppers the possible, we wanted to allow visitors to do the impossible
to try on virtual shades of lipstick. Fashion tech leader Metail - to step inside Creative Director Olivier Rousteing’s head and
are on a mission to digitise the world’s clothes and have view his creative process from the inside. The queues went
developed algorithms that allow users to easily create body- round the block. It is this power of AR and VR to permit the
accurate avatars to try them on. Farfetch test-drove their impossible that is truly exciting for luxury brands in particular.
‘Store of The Future’ at their Browns location in late 2017. But to unleash that potential brands need to move past
Amazon’s Echo Look has a machine-learning system that the first uses of the tech.
compares photos of different outfits you’re wearing and Whenever a disruptive new technology emerges, there
judges which one is more “in” at that very moment. And is a gap between it appearing and its full exploitation by the
since the distant past of 2014 and Top Shop’s Virtual Runway arts. We first repeat the old form through a new technology,
show at London Fashion Week, fashion brands have been then we habituate to it and a new form is born.
Ed Warren is the Chief Creative Officer of Sunshine; using VR to teleport users to their shows. Look at the invention of the television and music. Initially,
But impressive as these innovations are, and as successful music replicated the old form of live shows - The Beatles
a brand and entertainment company that creates as many of them may become, in some ways they only go strumming away on Jonny Carson - but soon a brand new
to illustrate the cultural gulf that still persists between the form was born - the Music Video - as the leading creatives
entertainment properties for clients and commissioners, luxury industry and the tech industry. in that industry realised what was possible.
Tech culture’s god is efficiency. Tech brands and great tech
Currently with VR and AR we’re in the gap. But why merely
replacing interrupting the things people love with thinkers are by nature disruptors who exist to remove both teleport fans of your brand to your fashion show when you
making things people love. Here, he discusses the middlemen and friction from their consumers’ journey to could create an impossible catwalk where giant models
purchase. Their creed is to serve the consumer and make stride down the Champs Elysee, or walk Escher-like through
possibilities of technology in the retail world. their lives easier (and to suck up all their lovely, lovely data). impossible staircases? Why use a VR mirror to replicate the role
But luxury brands don’t worship at the altar of efficiency. of the shop assistant when you could transport them to Bali (or
Quite the opposite. Alpha Centauri, or the surface of a hydrogen atom) for a selfie?
There are more efficient ways to make a piece of luggage This is particularly pertinent given the rapidly evolving
ccording to the Jetsons-sleek future envisioned a brave new virtual world full of exciting new flavours of than those employed in the ateliers of Louis Vuitton but that’s role of brick-and-mortar retail, spaces that (for luxury
by our tech-giant overlords Apple, Google, reality - Virtual, Augmented, Mixed, Blended, Decaf - you pick. not the point. Luxury prizes uniqueness and audacity over brands in particular) are no longer about information (the
Facebook and Amazon, AR and VR will totally “I don’t think there is any sector that will be untouched ease. And successful luxury brands don’t exist to serve their slab of glass in my pocket does that for me, thanks) but
Arevolutionise the worlds of fashion and retail. by AR,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in a 2017 interview clients; they exist to lead them into new and marvellous places, must instead become playgrounds that entice clients with
Interactive mirrors will assist our shopping experience, in Vogue, and Apple’s recent move of long-term iPhone as a glance at Gucci under Alessandro Michelle will tell you. experience, entertainment... magic.
our lifelike avatars will try on clothing for us in online executive Frank Casanova - the man Apple relies on to There are many excellent use-cases of VR and AR that lean And so with AR and VR the limit isn’t technology, it’s what you
boutiques, we will test virtual makeup on our virtual faces, launch new products - to handling product marketing for all towards utility and efficiency in exciting and elegant ways. But do with it. The limit is, as it always has been, is your imagination.
Oculus will allow us to rub shoulders (virtually) with Anna things relating to Augmented Reality suggests Cupertino are there are many more where these new technologies can be As Tom Hardy’s character advices in Inception - that film
Wintour on front rows at Paris Fashion Week, whilst Alexa about to step up their Augmented efforts. “Over time, I think wielded to create new, wild and magical experiences for their about exciting new flavours of reality - “You mustn’t be
will give us constructive style tips on today’s outfit. It’s [these features] will be as key as having a website,” Cook said. clients. And for luxury brands this use may be more important. afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”